5 Gems

by LoveandEdify

Prolouge

“Come on, Twilight. Are you sure there’s nothing else I can do for you this week?” Spike practically begged.

Now, this is a question you would normally hear Spike ask for Twilight. But not in that sort of tone,

or the fact that he would be nose-to-the-grindscales for months and months and months on end on into

the end of the summer.

“Now Spike,” Twilight sternly warned him, “You’ve been doing work, work, work nonstop 24/7 for

the past year!!!” she paused for a moment to see if that would sink into his hard scales.

Her face then immediately crinkled in utter annoyance to see Spike dusting off the Friendship

Map for around the 150th time. Today.

“When are you gonna go take a break?” Twilight asked annoyed, then her countenance and demeanor

softened to that of a caring and loving sister, concerned for her brother’s well-being when she asked, somberly

“When am I gonna get the old Spike back?”

“Spike, it’s almost nighttime. Shouldn’t you at least think about getting any sleep?!?” she asked,

frantically worried and concerned about her friend working himself up to exhaustion.

“Come on, Twilight!!!” Spike whined in annoyance of such seemingly simple concerns as he

was waxing the castle floors, “you know that this is something I do every... HEY!!!” Spike screamed as

his train of thought was promptly interrupted by the sudden snap-like sensation of him being teleported

with Twilight over to his room.

“No more working, Spike!!!” Twilight sternly ordered. Spike looked at the place, confused.

“But, Twilight I...” Spike began,

“I SAID NO MORE WORKING!!!” she said, practically shrieking with enough force to

almost shatter her crystal castle. To say that Spike seemed scared was a vast understatement, as

the scream sent him scurrying right under the fluffy twin-sized bed. Twilight then used her magic

to gently pull the shivering, nervous young dragon out from under the bed.

“I’ve just been so worried about you lately. Everything seemed fine and normal until you started

saving up for your trip. And you already had enough money ever since the end

of the Winter Wrap-Up. What’s wrong?”

Twilight softly beckoned, knowing that only something of a vast

magnitude of seriousness can possibly turn the diligent yet chill dragon into an overworking, almost

exhausted shiny, scaly husk. Spike sighed, as he knew that there was no way going around this

friendship problem. Especially with his best friend.

“Alright Twi. You got me.” Spike sadly confessed, with his head dropping towards the ground as he

sighed. Twilight then plopped her little brother onto his bed with her magic and sat down next to him

as Spike’s eyes met hers once again.

“It was because of Rarity and Applejack.” he finally confessed sadly.

“Rarity and Applejack?” Twilight asked confused, right as they both perked up to here somepony

else teleport in.

“Hey Twilight, I’m back from my hiking trip with Trixie, Maud and Thor...” Starlight stopped herself

as she saw Twilight and Spike nestled together on the bed as if something was up. “Oh, sorry Twilight.”

Starlight awkwardly apologized, “I can tell you about my trip when you two are done.” she offered.

“Oh, come on in, Starlight.” Twilight calmly and graciously welcomed, motioning for her to

come join them. Starlight trotted over to the side of the bed and sat near Twilight because the

bed could only fit one pony. “Go on, Spike.” Twilight gently prodded, turning her attention back

to Spike.

Spike took a deep breath and resumed. “Alright. So I was earning money for my vacation to

Emerald Coves when I was on my way to help Rarity at her boutique. She said I could help out

there to earn some extra bits. It was near Hearts and Hooves day, so I thought I could ask her

out to dinner with some of the bits I earned; and then I saw her. And she was talking to another

stallion.”

“Hold on, It could be that Rarity just had another friend over that day.” Starlight attempted to

reason, both for her friend and herself; for she always saw the little dragon as a constant companion

and friend.

“Yeah, except Rarity introduced him as her coltfriend Seveer Stallyn.” Spike affirmed glumly

as both the ponies “oh”ed in realization. “She told me that the two had been dating for the past year

and that the only reason she hadn’t introduced him to you all is because most of the time; he’s been

doing tours with his band.”

“What types of performances do they do?” Starlight asked, to lighten the mood before Twilight

nudged her to get her out of that particular rabbit hole. “I really am sorry, Spike.” Starlight apologized out

of sympathy.

“Eh, it’s alright, Star.” Spike responded, hardly paying any attention to his friend’s apology. He then decided

to brace himself while continuing. “But it gets worse. About a week or so later, I was working with Applejack on

the farm and after what was probably the longest, hardest day of my life; she literally goes up to me and says,

‘Now why’d you neva work hard like this all da time, sugacube?’” Spike asked the question in his best Applejack

voice. Although not as twangy or lady-toned; Spike’s impression of Applejack seemed spot-on for someone

who’s never really considered doing impressions before.

Twilight and Starlight stared in confusion at each other, then at Spike. “I’m pretty sure Applejack didn't

mean it like that.” Twilight reasoned sympathetically.

“Yeah, I know she didn't,” Spike affirmed, “But after doing some thinking; I figured that she was right.

Why don’t I work that hard all the time? I figured that if nopony really appreciated the effort I already

put in for them, I might as well keep pushing and pushing on until somepony finally cares about me.”

he confessed, his countenance now matching the state of his heart.

Crumbling and broken.

“Oh Spike, we know that you always work hard for us when we need it. And we know that you usually

get tired after doing all of that for us.” Twilight consoled as both she and Starlight cuddled Spike as he

continued to let his tears drown onto the pillow. “But don’t you ever ever think that you’d have to work

so hard that you’d wear yourself down just to get anypony to care about you.” Starlight continued.

“I don’t?” Spike asked in reply as he slowly began to reopen and wipe his watery eyes.

“Of course you don’t.” Starlight affirmed.

“I still don’t think Applejack quite meant it that way; but hearing all of that right after having someone

you loved for a long time, up and toss your feelings out like trash? I can see how it makes you feel so

defeated.” Twilight concurred.

“Ok, that’s enough.” Twilight and Starlight turned around to see an unexpected mare inside the doorway.

“It’s time that Spike hears it from an outside pony now.” the familiar monotone voice of Maud Pie spoke out.

While Maud’s voice and countenance was as plain as the gravel country ponies would trample on, very few

ponies (ponies that would genuinely consider taking the time to get to know her and be her friend) would

read whatever emotion Maud would try to show or portray. But even then, some of her friends can read

her better than others.

“Oh, hey Maud.” Twilight responded, politely trying to hide the fact that she felt caught off-guard,

“We were just going to...”

“Let Maud help Spike so that he could feel loved from an outside source so that I can explain what’s

going on here? That’s a great idea, Twilight!!!” Starlight quickly interrupted Twilight with an exaggerated

sense of realization. Twilight gasped, but no sound came out at the total awkwardness of the situation.

Starlight on the other hand, winked at Twilight and shouted, “You got this, Maud.” before instantaneously

teleporting her and Twilight out of the room.

Although there were some things about Maud that were, quite literally, stone-faced and expressionless;

this didn’t mean she was emotionless. Not in the slightest. Most of the time, you would just have to look past

what is being expressed; and look at her words and actions. Like right now. The deep, slow breathing, the

nervous yet steady gait in her stride and her head occasionally bobbing up and down. Not like a

bobblehead, but rather, like the swaying of a pendulum inside an old grandfather clock. Like

you could tell by those actions that, for some unknown reason, she was nervous as she scaled

her way to meet the little dragon.

A reason that will be shared, when our story truly begins...